Ok, first up, I have only 20 minutes, so this will be brief. Basically Tahiti has been a series of unfortunate and wonderful events which I list here. Choose for yourself which are the unfortunate ones and which are the fantastic ones.
1) Almost took the wrong bag off the carousel and out into Tahiti
2) Missed my pick up at the airport and had to buy an expensive phone card to contact Taaroa Lodge to ask to be picked up. Although I should say that the lodge is great. Not particularly flash, but the guy who owns and runs the place is basically a retired surfer called Ralph who is really great.
3) I went for two dives on Friday Morning which were AWESOME! (Hint: This is one of the fantastic moments). The first one was down to 21 metres straight down the wall of the main reef surrounding the island where all the big pacific waves crash in which is what makes Tahiti a famous surf destination. The second dive was around the lagoon and there was amazing coral and fish everywhere! The highlight was seeing a Dragonfish which is a memeber of the Stonefish family. If you don't know what stonefish are, they look sort of like magnificent seaweed and are deadly poisonous. For those who know The Simpsons, Homer almost died when eating one at an asian restaurant. Look it up on Google for a picture as I can't upload photos here.
4) Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking to a very nice (she also hates Bush) American lady at the lodge because EVERYWHERE was closed. Do not go to Tahiti and expect a raving nightlife!
5) Went to town on Saturday (today) and I am still here now as I type. Because all banks are closed I don't have any cash. So I was stuck until just recently when the guy at the information office gave me bus fare out of his own pocket. This was after spending two hours trying to find somewhere that would give me cash with a credit card purchase. I was such a fantastic act of generosity so I have given him my email address and promised to help in some way should I ever have the ability to do so (such as if he travels to NZ).
Overall a very eventful time but I'm running very short of time and now have to eat my lunch. I can buy stuff with my credit card, but can't get cash for love or mone.....well, maybe that wasn't a very accurate saying.
Cheers all, please post comments and send emails to let me how you all are.
Au Revoir
Richard
There's heaps of other stuff that I don't have time to write about now and even more that I didn't get to see. I really should of set aside at least two days, preferably three or four to do Kyoto justice. I'll write more when I have time but at least I got the pictures up this time!
